He was on Dr. Phil with the boy a year or two ago. I don't remember how old he was then though..

Oh yeah I forgot about that. It was about his son having some sexual phone calls with an alleged pedophile, right? I remember his son looked like the last place he wanted to be was on Dr. Phil, and Rich claimed he didn't know what to do.

Oh yeah I forgot about that. It was about his son having some sexual phone calls with an alleged pedophile, right? I remember his son looked like the last place he wanted to be was on Dr. Phil, and Rich claimed he didn't know what to do.

Ya, at the time on the Dr. Phil show, I think the kid was like 13 and he was having all these phone calls and chats with this guy who was like in his early 40's. I think the kid mentioned that he was in love with the guy and wanted to go be with him.

Ya, at the time on the Dr. Phil show, I think the kid was like 13 and he was having all these phone calls and chats with this guy who was like in his early 40's. I think the kid mentioned that he was in love with the guy and wanted to go be with him.

And he called Stacey Stillman a liar

Hatch really will do anything to save his behind. Interesting that when Stacey Stillman needed him to say MB rigged the show to get rid of her, he denied it. I'm sure that will come back to haunt him, too.

PASADENA, Calif. — A defense lawyer for first "Survivor" winner Richard Hatch has attacked the very integrity of one of television's most enduring games.
Hatch, on trial for tax evasion in Providence, R.I., caught fellow "Survivor" contestants cheating, lawyer Michael Minns said Friday. When Hatch told producers about it they made a deal to pay his taxes if he won the $1 million prize, he said.

Hatch supposedly caught some of his opponents trying to have friends sneak food to them at their tropical location.

CBS refused to comment on the charges Friday, and a spokesman for "Survivor" executive producer Mark Burnett — who testified earlier at Hatch's trial — did not immediately comment.

"Survivor" has been a mainstay of CBS' lineup ever since it became a sensation in the summer of 2000 and, after "American Idol," is consistently television's most popular reality game. The 12th installment of the show, set in Panama, begins on CBS Feb. 2.

It would be disturbing for television viewers if Hatch's charges were true, said Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. People want the game played by the rules.

And if such charges came out five years ago, it might have really hurt the show, he said.

Now, he's not so sure.

"I think most people consider the reality of reality TV as they do the reality of Santa Claus," Thompson said.

A poll conducted by The Associated Press and TV Guide last September found that 82 percent of Americans believe that reality shows are either "totally made up" or "mostly distorted."

Yet they watch them anyway. The fifth season debut of "American Idol" on Tuesday drew nearly 36 million viewers — the most-watched entertainment show this TV season — despite last year's charges that contest judge Paula Abdul had slept with a previous contestant (Fox concluded the charges were unsubstantiated).

The heart of "Survivor" is putting real people in stressful situations and watching how they react to one another, Thompson said.

"I don't know if (viewers) care if they have the integrity that you would expect on a journalistic documentary," he said.

"Survivor" had one brush with security in 2003. An offshore bookie suspended betting that year on who the "Survivor" winner would be when he noticed a large number of people betting on contestant Sandra Diaz-Twine, the eventual winner.

The most recent "Survivor" edition, based in Guatemala, averaged 18.3 million viewers, placing it among Nielsen Media Research's 10 most popular shows of the year. The show leads off CBS' Thursday schedule, the most lucrative night of the week for advertising revenue.

The revelation from Hatch's lawyer came during a break in Hatch's testimony on Friday. He told U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres that Hatch would testify about the deal. Hatch had been on the stand defending himself against charges that he failed to pay taxes on his "Survivor" winnings.

Torres did not immediately say whether Hatch could testify to a jury about his allegations.

Hatch is also accused of failing to pay taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars of other income and using money donated to a charity on himself.

On Friday, Hatch spoke about how the behavioral problems of his son, Christopher, have weighed on him. Minns has said Hatch was distracted by problems with his son and was a terrible bookkeeper, but he never meant to commit tax fraud.

I love how he is accusing other of having food snuck on the island. No one knew exactly where they were and they all lost a ton of weight. Yup, signs of eating contraband food alright. Hatch must think the world is made up of idiots.

Here's another article that kind of sums up the first, except this one has two people (who, of course, refuse to be named) that back Hatch up. Just a hunch, but I wonder if this cameraman was fired from the show and if the unnamed contestant is none other than Stacey Stillman. I really don't consider smuggling food onto the show as cheating, regardless of whether his claims are true or not.

As it turns out, original Survivor winner Richard Hatch has a few tricks up his sleeve.

The reality champ's defense attorney dropped a bombshell Friday at Hatch's federal tax evasion trial, alleging that Survivor producers struck a deal with Hatch while he was a contestant on the show, agreeing to pay the taxes on his million-dollar prize if he won.

The bargain purportedly came about after Hatch allegedly caught some of his fellow contestants cheating by having friends sneak food to them on the island. He told producers, who ultimately attempted to buy his silence, the story goes.

Hatch testified he never ate anything during the competition that he didn't find or catch himself, or win as a reward.

The revelation of the alleged deal came during a break in Hatch's testimony when his lawyer, Michael Minns, told U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres of his plan to have Hatch testify about his bargain with the producers.

Torres did not immediately comment on whether Hatch could tell the jury about the deal, and Hatch's completed testimony for the day without mentioning the purported cover-up. It was not clear whether Hatch and Minns would bring up the Survivor allegations Monday.

Mark Burnett, executive producer of Survivor, took the stand earlier in the trial, but neither the defense nor the prosecution asked him about any deal he might have made with Hatch.

However, two of Hatch's fellow island inhabitants have spoken up, expressing their doubts about the veracity of his claims.

"I think he's just talking. What friends could bring them food? There ain't no friends on the island," former contestant Rudy Boesch told TMZ.com. "I don't know nothing about what he's talking about and I don't know why he's saying it. Everybody in the world saw him win a million dollars."

Boesch's sentiments were echoed by Dr. Sean Kenniff, another season one contestant.

"I never witnessed any cheating by Survivor contestants, Survivor producers or other Survivor staff," Kenniff said. "During my 36 days on the island, I lost about 30 pounds--fair evidence that I certainly wasn't the recipient of any prohibited food!"

But other sources told TMZ.com that there was cheating going on and that it was no secret.

"We had our own little area, a couple of hundred yards away from the contestants," a cameraman, who asked not to be named, told TMZ.com. "They [the contestants] would sneak in and we would see candy wrappers around their camp."

Another season one contestant who also asked not to be named said she frequently saw her competitors snacking on candy and Power Bars.

In addition to failing to report his reality television earnings, Hatch is accused of failing to pay taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars of other income and spending money donated to a charity on himself.

Minns has argued that though his client is "not stupid," he is the "world's worst bookkeeper," and that his failure to give the IRS the proper cut of his earnings was merely an oversight.

If convicted, Hatch could face up to 75 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines. It remains to be seen whether he will be able to outwit, outplay and outlast the case against him.

I don't think I believe him. That seems a pretty minor thing for the producers to be that desperate to cover up. Besides, even if by some chance they DID bribe him and DID say they'd pay his taxes, he's an idiot if he didn't make sure they followed through.

On the witness stand, Richard Hatch says CBS would not return his calls, his investment fund was pillaged and the weeks immediately after his Survivor victory were fraught with child-abuse allegations and media coverage.

BY RICHARD SALIT
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Richard Hatch starred again yesterday, but this time, instead of appearing in front of 55 million TV viewers on the reality-show Survivor, he was testifying before a panel of jurors in his federal tax-evasion trial.
Hatch, who asked to be called "Rich" in the courtroom and who dressed casually in a blue oxford shirt with no tie, spent the day on the witness stand. He calmly asserted that he never intended to avoid taxes on the $1 million he won on Survivor in 2000, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars he earned for cohosting a Boston radio program.

With the confidence and intellect Survivor fans have come to expect, the 44-year-old Newport corporate trainer smiled, looked directly at the jury and gestured animatedly while testifying. Sometimes his answers rambled, prompting U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres to direct him to confine his remarks to the questions posed to him. "I've been waiting three years, your honor," said Hatch, referring to a federal probe into his taxes. Later, he said, "I've wanted nothing more than to find out the truth of what is owed and deal with it." Under questioning by his lawyer, Michael Minns, Hatch described stress and difficulties he endured after he won Survivor, and said they were factors in mistakes he made in his tax returns.

Hatch recounted how, just days after he returned from the Malaysian island where he won Survivor, child-abuse charges were brought against him that would later be dismissed. His troubled adopted son fabricated the story, he said, and the media covered the story intensely.
"It was traumatic, embarrassing," he said.

Hatch said he also learned around that time that some of his prize winnings had been embezzled. He said money was stolen from a Morgan Stanley account in which he had invested $350,000. He said he intended to invest the money conservatively in the event he needed some of it to pay taxes.
No other witness has testified about the alleged theft at the trial, and a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman reached last night could not immediately provide a comment.
"I'm a bright guy. It's not like I felt confused," Hatch said at one point. "My life was so complicated."

Hatch maintained that he was never able to get a firm answer on whether any of the entities affiliated with Survivor -- including CBS and the show's production company -- paid taxes on his behalf. None of his accountants pursued the issue, even though he raised it with them, and two IRS notices that listed his income did not mention the Survivor winnings.
When he began inquiring about the issue with CBS officials, including Survivor executive producer Mark Burnett, they stopped returning his calls, he said.
Because he never got a firm answer on the tax situation, he said he filed a return that did not show the Survivor income and resulted in a refund of about $4,000. The Middletown accountant, Judi Rodrigues Wallis, who prepared the return, testified this week that Hatch asked her for it merely to compare it to a previous one she completed that indicated he owed $274,000, with the Survivor income. She said she made Hatch sign a document stating, "This return is not intended to be filed."
"She did not tell me not to file that return," Hatch said yesterday. "She told me she couldn't be associated with that return."

Minns, Hatch's lawyer, devoted much of his questioning toward bolstering the credibility of Horizon Bound, a nonprofit charity his client founded with the stated intention of taking troubled youths on outdoor adventures. Prosecutors allege that Hatch used the $35,000 in tax-free donations for personal expenses, including renovations to his two properties. One improvement was the addition of an office.
"That office space was built for Horizon Bound," Hatch said. "I pictured that was going to be the focus in my life."Hatch described how a previous incarnation of the program was a "life-altering experience" for him in his own troubled youth. As soon as he won the $1 million on Survivor, he began taking steps to realize a lifelong dream of bringing the program back to life.

Hatch remained unflappable, but engaged in many clipped, tense exchanges with Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Vilker while under cross-examination. The tone was set almost immediately."Good afternoon, Mr. Hatch," Vilker said.
"I trust you'll understand if I don't wish you the same," Hatch replied.
Vilker challenged many of Hatch's explanations. He directed Hatch to read from his Survivor contract, which states that contestants "shall pay all federal and state taxes." He displayed for the jury a Morgan Stanley document that indicated that Hatch had requested his money be directed largely into speculative investments, and suggested the money wasn't embezzled but was instead lost when many technology businesses went bust.
Vilker said that the account still had more than $200,000 in it and ultimately, "You never used any of the Morgan Stanley money to pay for any of your taxes." Meanwhile, he said, Hatch spent nearly $700,000 in improvements to his two properties and sold one at a profit of about $500,000.

Hatch will take the witness stand again on Monday when Vilker resumes his cross-examination.

His excuses change day to day. In Hatch's own testimony and the arguments from his lawyer ( 2 days ago), they were both attempting to blame it on the 2nd accountants inexperience. Unfortunately for them it came across as Hatch was shopping for another accountant, with less experience, that he could dupe on his tax return and blame it all on when he got caught.

Between everything going on, he doesn't have a single shred of proof about anything and they haven't even mentioned the $326,000 he earned being a talk show host that he didn't pay taxes on. Meanwhile the prosecutor has tons of witnesses and documents while Hatch just has his wild claims and accusations. He actually said the prosecutor has a vendetta against him.

It's obvious from the evidence he is a liar, thief and sociopath. The only reason I can think of for his ludicrous claims is that he's hoping to get off by casting reasonable doubt. How he thinks he can get away with that is a mystery. This isn't Borneo Rich, this jury won't buy your outlandish BS.

The reality champ's defense attorney dropped a bombshell Friday at Hatch's federal tax evasion trial, alleging that Survivor producers struck a deal with Hatch while he was a contestant on the show, agreeing to pay the taxes on his million-dollar prize if he won.

Too bad the prosecutor didn't ask why he didn't drop this "bombshell" while MB was on the stand so he could address it. Instead he waits days after he testifies and is back in California and can't answer the claims unless he is called back to the state. Something I'm sure Hatch was counting on not happening.